BA Call Signs

[Jordan D]

Also - what are the suffix 'c' and 'y' used for on flight numbers?

Jordan

[Seat1APlease]

I think the suffix Y was used for yesterdays flight which has been delayed. I for example yesterdays BA1 has been delayed and will not arrive until this morning then it becomes BA1Y to distinguish it from todays flight which will also run.

[Thunderbug]

C is for Charter flights
P for Positioning flight

sometimes
E for engineering test flights


T'bug

[Jordan D]

Thanks Seat1A and Thunderbug for your reponses.

Jordan

[expedite_climb]

Ba sometimes use other suffixes to prevent confusion. Often - a 'W'.

E.g. - from memory, one of the IAD-LHR's is the BAW 6W, even though the flight number is nothing like that....

[055166k]

JustaFew

Yes "Albion" was used for the likes of Viscounts etc that had previously been using "Cambrian" callsigns....the two letter flight plan identifier was BX. [Just as one example]. I used to work them in/out of Liverpool.

[JustaFew]

Thanks 055166K and Loki.
055166K check your PMs.

[slink]

The odd 767 flies as Shuttle too, although more recently we've been seeing 2 LHR Shuttles coming to EDI in trail, 757 and Airbus, or pair of Airbuses - running out of serviceable 767s, perhaps?

BA also seem to use odd numbers for positioning flights - the 777 that dead legged LHR-EDI to pick up the PM a few weeks back had a Speedbird callsign with 4 numbers, but no "P".

[Fried_Chicken]

I tend to find BA use callsigns that begin BAW9xxx for positioning flights

BA Citiexpress use the P though, BRT02P for example

FC

[Bunk-Rest]

The much maligned 'gripper' actually had a better field performance than the 1.11.
I flew them both and saw the far end of more runways in a 1.11 than I care to remember.
Aberdeen - LHR on a warm day with a full load, 1.11's used to have to tech stop EDI for fuel, because it couldn't lift the weight out of ABZ
The poor runway performance of the 1.11 was a contributary factor in the very near accident at Basle in the 80's

Backup flights often used to take off after the 1st service, and arrive before them, because BA used the Trident 3, or latterly the 757 for the main flight, and Trident 1's & 2's for the backup.
T1's & 2's had faster speed limits, and would generally be lighter than the fully loaded Frontline T3. It was quite easy to outpace them on the way and land first, always to the chagrin of your colleagues of course...........

[clicker]

And for those who's wondering BEALINE was the old BEA callsign before they merged with BOAC.